London Art in Sweden
Above: Images from the inaugural (Deviant) Art Festival 2006
Swedish artists and London Met graduates, Fredrik Lindberg and Joanna Ageborn, will once again bring emerging British artists
to the city of Trollhattan, Sweden for the second annual (Deviant) Art
Festival, which runs this year from 13-28 July.
The (Deviant) Art Festival is part of the Trollhattan Waterfall
Festival, an event that attracts thousands of visitors every year, and
will see 40 artists from London and other areas of the UK display their
work in galleries across the city. The galleries include the Museum of
Contemporary Art, the Window Screen Gallery and the Pumphuset Gallery.
Besides contemporary paintings, photography, sculpture and
installations, the (Deviant) Art Festival will also include performance
art, poetry, music, films and other events, all of which curators
Fredrik and Joanna say will accomplish their mission of bringing
progressive ideas to an industrial town and raising the profile of
fresh British talent in Sweden.
‘Although last year’s inaugural festival was organised on a shoestring with only
one venue and a handful of inspired artists, it was remarkably
successful and repeatedly featured in Swedish national print and
broadcast media, and captured impressive visitor numbers,’ Joanna said.
‘This year we have doubled in size and are not just concentrating on
London-based artists, but have widened our net to showcase artists from
all over the UK. ‘
Fredrik, who will act as a ‘game show host’ during the festival and
create eye-catching collaborative art events to excite the public, said
(Deviant) Art Festival 2007 will definitely stand out from the crowd.
‘The festival will be quite a unique experience this year, with a
selection of dynamic artists interacting with the various exhibition
spaces and generating site-specific pieces,’ he said.
‘Some of the art presented at the festival will be experimental, and
although this can be sometimes described as controversial, like the art
Joanna and I create, we are very pleased with the diversity and
intensity of the show. I believe it is one of the most important forums
for emerging British art in Sweden today.’
Artists exhibiting at (Deviant) include Joanna and Fredrik, Nigel
Russel/Robert Hope, Virginia Chandler, Valentina Ferrandes, Angus
Braithwaite, Matt Blackler, Giles Hinchcliff, Carali McCall, Katie
Shipley, Natalie Childs, Miranda Peake, Kruse, Charlie Tweed, Charlotte
Young, Daniel Lehan, Beth Collar, Frog Morris, Visciousirene d´Almey,
Ines d´Almey, Delpa Hudson, Iavor Lubomirov and William Howard.
Comments on last year’s (Deviant) Art Festival included:
‘You are currently the saviours of the contemporary art scene in this half of Sweden.’ - Goran Vogel-Rodin, former head of Konsthallen and current head of the Art in Public Spaces project.
‘A diverse and talented group of artists and filmmakers like this
can create art, make television, entertain and shock the locals all in
one seamless process.’ - Alison Carter, journalist.
The (Deviant) Art Festival is held in association with Konsthallen,
Trollhattan’s major visual arts organisation, who will provide spaces
for the festival’s exhibitions across the city.
For more information please visit www.deviantartfestival.com.
11 May 2007